| Belize's Brightest Honored at CXC Awards Ceremony |
| Thu, November 22, 2007 |
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They excelled on this year's CXC and 'A level' exams
and today 775 students got their well-earned 15 minutes of fame. 233 certificates
of achievement on CAPE, the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Exam, and 542 certificates
of excellence on CSEC, the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate exam, were
handed out this morning at the SJC Gym. Keith Swift has the story.
Keith Swift Reporting,
The spotlight at this morning's awards ceremony shone the brightest on
16-year-old Jaime Burgos. Not only did he sit and pass 13 CXC exams but he did
it outstandingly - winning five subject awards, and a regional award.
Orville Melendrez, CXC Committee
"In Jaime excelled in his four years at Saint John's College.
Choosing the challenging three science courses; physics, chemistry, and biology
- Jaime graduated with an overall GPA of 4.46. He is very determined and
confident."
Determined, confident, and this morning Burgos was humble.
Jaime Burgos, Most Outstanding CSEC Candidate
"We did not come here today to simply acknowledge the work of a single
student or that of a few student. We are here to reward the hard work that all
of us did. I strongly believe that what I did is most definitely not unreachable.
All of us have the capacity to have done it - if we only had the fitting circumstances.
I say this because it does not take one person to build a nation or to improve
our society. All of us are equal and will be future citizens of Belize.
We need to take initiative and become business oriented and open doors
not only for our ourselves but for others. The only way we will accomplish this
is if we exploit what we learn in the classroom and to get there with our innovations
- use it to develop our natural resources. We cannot continue to allow
only foreigners to come to Belize to share the country's wealth. We have
to become assertive and reap the riches to be made here in Belize."
And if Jaime - who is studying engineering in Taiwan sounds like a politician,
that is probably because he is the son of Orange Walk East Area Representative
Dave Burgos. Today Dave the area representative and former Minister was just
Dave - a proud father.
Hon. Dave Burgos, Father
"For us today to see that our son excelled - it brings greatness,
happiness to the family."
Jaime shared this morning's spotlight with his former SJC classmate Christopher  Waight. Waight also sat and passed 13 CXCs.
Christopher Waight, CSEC Outstanding Candidate
"Well I feel happy because I feel I've worked hard. I feel that
the work paid off."
Hard work for Waight and Burgos which included many long long nights and weekends.
Christopher Waight,
"As much as I wanted to go fool around on weekends, I knew I had to
go back to exams on Monday. Also it kind of helps to pay attention in class.
Lot of people don't like to pay attention in class but it kind helps."
Keith Swift,
What would be your advice to students taking the exam next year?
Christopher Waight,
"Don't do drugs and if you put your mind to it, stick to it
because around CXC time is around graduation and there are a lot of parties
- don't get distracted."
And while Christopher and Jaime's achievements are outstanding -
what Richard Genus accomplished is simply exceptional. He sat six CXCs and passed
all of them. The exceptional part is that the  Toledo Community College graduate
is blind.
Richard Genus, Blind Student
"I did the same things. The teachers tried to involve me into the
curriculum of the school."
Keith Swift,
How did you study?
Richard Genus,
"I studied through Braille where I type my notes and also I record
them on a recorder...I hope they follow my footsteps and do better than
me or just like me and not just because they are blind - or have any other
disability - that will stop them from pursuing their education."
Richard Genus is one of the 775 and students who excelled on this year's
CXC exams. That's one hundred more students than last year and Chairman
of the CXC Committee Allan Genitty says there's reason to be proud.
Alan Genitty, Chairman - CXC National Committee
"Our students performed extremely well in the CXC examinations, both
at the CSEC level and the CAPE. Our two top students received 13 grade ones
in a variety of subjects and in addition to that we have seen more students
passing ten or more subjects. So overall I would say our students did extremely
well."
The top finisher on the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Exam is Phillip DeShield.
He is away studying chemistry and biology and so his father Dr. Michael DeShield
accepted the award on his behalf.
Phillip DeShield is studying chemistry and physics at Oshan College
in Indiana. Jaime Burgos is studying engineering in Taiwan while Christopher
Waight is studying math, physics, and chemistry at Saint John's College
Junior College. All three received full scholarships from government. Jaime
Burgos will shortly travel to St. Lucia to receive a regional subject award
for the humanities. Richard Genus, the visually impaired awardee
meanwhile is enrolled at the University of Belize's Toledo campus where
he is studying primary school education.
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